ENG-1977 — Page 110

EDUCATION

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will be provided by the departments of the Faculty of Medicine in existing accom- modation, but the government is to build and maintain a new dental clinic in which the clinical side of the dental curriculum will be provided. It is planned to establish the dental school in 1980 and the first 60 dentists are expected to graduate in 1984.

In 1976-7, the Department of Extra-Mural Studies provided more than 450 evening and day courses for more than 13,000 adult students. Subjects offered by the depart- ment include art and design, business studies, economics, law, languages, oriental studies, a range of liberal arts courses, and a wide variety of vocational and pro- fessional courses. Most of these courses are conducted in English, but some are taught in Mandarin and a significant proportion are in Cantonese.

The general library contains almost 270,000 volumes, including the Robert Morrison Collection. The Hung On-to Memorial Library has a special collection of books on Hong Kong. The Fung Ping Shan Chinese Library of more than 205,000 volumes contains many rare items. In addition, there are two branch libraries the medical library with more than 42,000 volumes, including bound periodicals, and the law library, with about 15,000 volumes.

Research

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The University of Hong Kong's Centre of Asian Studies continues to provide a central point for research within the university on Asia in general and on China and Hong Kong in particular. In 1977, it published a sociological study of the Hong Kong film industry and its audience; a catalogue of Chinese paintings in the Luis de Camos Museum, Macau, with commenting essays; a second edition of two com- memorative studies on Sun Yat-sen; and a volume of nine selected papers on the 'Gang of Four' from the contemporary China seminar. In response to demand, The Thought of Mao Tse-tung, Its Form and Content, is being translated into English and Japanese for wider circulation. New projects undertaken include a survey of Hong Kong temples; a study of the ceramic wares of Shek Wan; the annotation, editing and translation of the Chen Kung-po manuscript, Bitter Smile; and the prep- aration of a new edition of the centre's Directory of Current Hong Kong Research on Asian Topics. In addition, the centre acted as a base for overseas research groups, including a project on industrial relations in Hong Kong and a study in ocean. architecture. During the year, the centre organised a series of seminars and centre fellows' lunch talks and, with the help of local experts in the field, the fifth Leverhulme regional conference on 'China: Development and Challenge'.

In the Faculty of Arts, research is being undertaken in various aspects of English and Chinese language and literature, and in comparative literature. A history work- shop primarily concerned with Hong Kong history has been set up. Studies on China and South-east Asia - both at graduate and undergraduate levels - are a well-establish- ed feature of the work of the History and Geography Departments.

The Faculty of Social Sciences and Law is conducting research projects relating to various fields. These cover mathematical economics; different aspects of the Hong Kong economy, such as income and employment, fiscal policy, the banking system, technology and growth; managerial beliefs in South-east Asia; small business in the Hong Kong environment; government and politics in Hong Kong; cultural/ social background of government decision-makers; social problems in Hong Kong;